Where Are The Pigs? The Camels? The Cows?

Xaverian College circa 2000: the like minded ones are forming bonds in little pockets dotted around the common room. This was a college unlike many others, it drew in people from as far as Middleton to Cheadle Hulme, Sale to Oldham and all other places that hadn't existed until the meeting of young folk coming from all areas in and around the city centre. This was a Catholic institution that had long since lapsed bar the odd mass and pilgrimage to Lourdes. The common room, which cemented many a friendship was the place you got to know people who knew people and vice versa.

This is the place Jon first appeared, preceding an underhanded but harmless nickname of 'Crazy Jon' by attacking a vending machine that swallowed his coins. I noticed him out and about from then on; manic reflexes, someone who would make a playful meal of hellos and goodbyes and he seemed well beyond his years. "Have a listen to this.." he said swinging over one of the earphones from his walkman, our first meeting, in the common room of course. "What on earth is this shite?" is something I refrained from asking him "what is it?" came the alternative. He pushed a CD case into view "Trout Mask Replica" "who?" "Captain Beefheart... most people have to give it a few listens but I liked it straight away" didn't doubt that for a second, in fact he could have said he'd been to an early gig and it would've been just as believable. Another of our early meetings involved his box of 'Yes' paraphernalia in which contained a scathing article that he was not all too impressed by. He got me on to prog-rock for a while but I managed to kick it, I'll never forgive him for that! Had anyone met a man quite as engaging and buzzed up to the eyebrows before? this chap had many a creative colour on his pallete.

In contrast to the manic showmanship of Jon there was Phil: a more subdued character with Radiohead lyrics scrawled on the soul of his shoe, earphones permanantly plugged into his ears. A Welsh-looking choir boy come-of -age. Subdued that is until politics became the topic of conversation, especially that of the radical left-wing variety. Phil became one of the figureheads of political debate and discussion around our common room table, someone who had a lot of anger towards the ne'er do wells yet at the same time maintained a ridiculously silly sense of humour which sometimes made it feel like none of that political guff mattered. He once tried to control himself laughing at a passing dwarf. "This is Phil, he wants to come to Jilly's" "can you mosh?" "yeah" Phil had interesting ideas he was keen to express & if he liked something he would let you know, be it a song or a walk in the hills. Another one who insisted you listen to his music.

Joe or 'Bouffant Joe' was a friendly chap who often seemed frustrated by his own thoughts and being patronized from time to time, he would ask every possible question in attempt to understand what you were talking about but never seemed entirely satisfied by what he heard unless you said something funny at which point he would be relieved via laughter. His ability to turn what might be considered an otherwise standard experience into an entertaining anecdote was quite impressive.

It would be easy for me to say Eoin was a complex man because a) he was and b) he was listening to Joy Division, not M People when he was 9 years old apparently. A showman like Jon, they complimented each other well artistically and both seemed to share a slightly warped and giddy sense of humour that would spill over into silent, red-faced laughing fits. In hindsight this was quite pubescent behaviour but it was interesting, there was a creative surge behind it.

Rich, who was a good few years our senior was mature and a good bloke. There isn't much more I can say about him other than he was talented and seemed well disciplined, I hadn't spent much time with Rich other than poking around rehearsals with a camera asking him daft questions all of which he responded to in a very civilised way.

I had become friends with Jon, Phil and Joe independently of each other & then learnt that they had formed a band together. Good times. Jon had met Eoin through Eoin's girlfriend in his Spanish class, Rich through some of his musically-minded friends I imagine and they began to rehearse utilising one of the tiny box rooms at college. Their musical playgrounds expanded after a while going as far as Levenshulme, Ancoats and Newton Heath. With this came some spectacular performances and catastrophic hurdles (a £1400 ransom on their equipment as well as a ban, though not their faults it must be said) at various venues around town that were to make or break the lads who referred to themselves as Rapid Pig & the Hundred and Two Camels and Cows. These were not just "my mates band 'The Debonaires' are playing" type gigs, they delievered an experience for the audience.. whether it was deemed amazing or shite it was never dull. When they were spot on it was pure creativity and individual expression. After a time there were others becoming involved, namely G of Sundowner fame. The Pigs weren't involved in any particular trend, they didn't want to be scene and not heard. I regret not witnessing Jon take to the drums at a gig in Satan's Hollow where by his own account managed to shock the audience and himself at his stick bashing incompetence. That's what I admired about them: they'd have a go, take risks. A lot of belief in their own creative abilities but mainly they seemed to be enjoying themselves more than anything.

And where are they now? Well, I haven't seen them perform in a while, the Pigs. Are they still together? I don't even know. Hope they are.. bored of The Debonaires!

The Driven Renegade or The Way of The Cult

Ambition. What is that word? What does it sum up in your minds eye? You want this so you gotta do that, right? Oh look, there's you enjoying the benefits of jolly old life in your imagination, you'll morph that into a reality firstly by believing it is entirely possible then taking the neccessary steps to achieving that goal, simple! Without any further ado let me apologise for talking about ambition. It's a thoroughly boring subject or perhaps it is just that word, which to me seems to suggest you reap the benefits of life when you hit retirement. And those posters they put up around the workplace? "if you have no direction you'll end up nowhere" Please. If I want to read stuff like that I'll go to the Mind, Body & Spirit section of Waterstones.

On a contradictory note I am fond of ambition. Well, the idea of wanting something, working towards it and then eventually getting it more specifically. It's one of those natural abilities we posess. The word ambition however seems too self-conscious, a concept stamped on the process of 'wanting something and working towards it' that becomes championed by faceless corporate entities & implemented into the ethos of working life, where your ambition is subject to some severe bending like when you attempt to snap one of those non shatter rulers.

But what of those whose ambitions refuse to be subject to severe bending, or in most cases, any bending at all? I could supply a list of famous/infamous renegades right now, but just imagine if you will a student's halls room bedecked with iconic posters symbolically defiant of their parents values. The Malcolm X's, the Guevara's & the Hitler's of this world didn't cause an impact by operating in harmony with the status quo, though the latter sprung up when the status quo in his German-speaking country of choice had all but crumbled thus giving the little barborous demon an unfair advantage. And if there were any students who had a poster of that daft clown in their rooms chances are they are now safely locked away in a medieval dungeon, or they work in advertising.

Those bad boys (and girls) aside, I would like to focus your attention on a more enigmatic character going by the name of Amdi Petersen. A name more infamous throughout Scandinavia. Yes, he too flew in the face of the status quo, a very ambitious renegade. In the late 60's he & a group of teachers dissatisfied with mainstream education decided to travel the world via modest modes of transport, to learn more about the third world & see what they could do to combat poverty. An alternative school was set up in Denmark which proved to be successful & consequently saw expansion and state support from a then very liberal Danish government. After establishing a base in the north west region of Jutland (central Denmark) an area dominated by farmland and not much else, the now established 'Tvind' organisation (named after the area of farmland where the new schools were situated) continued to thrive and gain popularity with youth counter-culture. It was in the mid 70's that the organisation, with Petersen as the spearhead, decided to undertake the ambitious project of constructing the worlds largest electricity producing windmill on the school grounds. Sounds like a pretty right on guy?

An epic chronology of events is being cut short here, I do not have the patience to go into detail but it involves the renegade protagonist going into hiding for a good 25 years, international expansion, pyschological bullying, an alcohol ban, Africa, the succesful endeavour of developing aid into free enterprise, damaged teens, a fatal boat accident, a shared economy, court cases, insane amounts of profit and cult status. These things would not have happened if it wasn't for Mr Petersen himself, a man guided by Maoist theories towards education and organisation.

Petersen's ambition was so virile he in effect created his own status quo, his own normality within his organisation, which spread across the globe (Tvind/Humana have schools in all continents) He created and influenced a whole culture among the people involved within the organisation which to this very day is still going strong. The organisation has earned itself a cult status since the 80's & has been scrutinised and vilified by various world governments ever since: Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Denmark, UK and America have all hit Tvind with cult allegations and recognise AP as the mastermind. You'd be hard pushed to ever find the elusive character who could literally be in any part of the world including his condominium in the Cayman Islands, unless he's attending court in Denmark for a £15m fraud case.

So where does ambition and all of it's supposedly positive implications lead to in this scenario? One mans ambition is now being measured against the state and other regimes, this championed characteristic can be the very thing that will bring about the abolishment of those institutions that champion it! And meanwhile, the rest of us who are quite content to get on with life are subject to emerging power struggles between what are essentially ambitious individuals with a will to controlling their environment. It becomes clearer when you've spent a bit of time in a cult, an experimental alternative to society as we know it, run by an ambitious egomaniac, in this case Amdi Petersen: a charismatic bully with pseudo-socialist ideals.